1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to videoconferencing units.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today's video conferencing systems do not allow for a conversation-like video conference where people are seated in a circle or around a system that is in the middle of the space or table. There are systems today that place a 360 degree camera in the center of a table and the far site is displayed on a wall at one end of the room. The participants are seated on three sides of the table and naturally face the wall display. This results in each participant facing the far site at a different angle, with most participants not facing the camera but instead having at least a portion of the side of their head being seen by the camera. Further, this portion varies with each participant so that it is clear that the participants are not looking at the camera but looking at the display on the wall. This results in a videoconference that is completely different from a normal conversation held in person, where the participants look at each other, and reduces the value of the videoconference.
There have been attempts to address this problem by the use of “presence” systems. However, most presence systems are very expensive and very difficult to set up properly and require significant bandwidth for their communications. This has limited the use of “presence” systems to only the most demanding environments.